<p>Just wondering. People keep telling me that I'm getting way too ahead of myself, but I still think it's a good idea to atleast have a feel even though you might be a few years away.
I know medical school would be justifiable, but just wondering if it would work the same for grad.</p>
<p>same here.</p>
<p>After I got accepted to college my father already started looking into graduate schools. He's made a little folder of possibilities. Its kind of disturbing.</p>
<p>Oh gossssh, my mom does the same thing. She already set aside fund and gathered grad school information already.</p>
<p>Yes, it is possible. While it is always good to keep learning about your intended field and possible careers, remember that: 1) just about everybody changes majors or subfields during their years in college, many of us several times; 2) if you start getting too emotionally invested in a particular grad option too early, you risk losing your sense of having open possibilities and routing yourself into an overly narrow and rigid career path; and 3) researching grad programs doesn't take years.</p>
<p>Agreed. Too many kids I know are taking courses in college to satisfy grad school requirements for programs that they don't even know they like! I think that's ridiculous and you should just take what interests you, or you'll never have fun in any life if you're just preparing for the next step the whole time instead of just enjoying yourself and living in the present.</p>
<p>For those who actually already know what they want to do in life it's not too early... despite what many will tell you there is a breed of people who are very decisive and know what they want to do with their life without switching their major 4 times...</p>
<p>I want to go to medical school... that is absolutely the only course I want to take... and for that reason all of the preparation that I am doing now is only going to give me a leg up against all the people who decided their sophmore year that's what they wanted to do... </p>
<p>It all depends on what type of person you are... if you know you are fickle... then you're probably just wasting your time now... but if not... you could be doing yourself a great service by getting started...</p>
<p>
[quote]
I want to go to medical school... that is absolutely the only course I want to take... and for that reason all of the preparation that I am doing now is only going to give me a leg up against all the people who decided their sophmore year that's what they wanted to do
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Spoken like a person who hasn't arrived on campus yet. A large number of students enter college each year as pre-meds. Then reality sets in in the form of Calc, and Organic chem with the 6 hour lab requirement that weed out some while others go through college not seeing the forest for the trees . </p>
<p>Still others operate from a mind set of how they want to live your 4 years at college. Med school is still going to be there. Some students opt to take a post bach year if it means their time can be used to study abroad, take an art class or something else that they are passionate about. You'll find soon enough that there are many roads that will lead you to the same destination.</p>
<p>It is those that have such a myopic view of college and as Mary Celeste mentioned are so focused on the future that they totally forget about the here an now.</p>
<p>I would say 8 years old is too early. I mean you have to send standards... My ten-year-old Timmy tho is studying to eventually make Harvard grad. My dearie and I have mapped out every day of his life for the next 10-12 years so that he will be the best possible applicant to Harvard as an undergraduate and later as a returning grad. His life will be a perpetual hell, but he'll thank us when he's a dentist one day.</p>
<p>Acheiving dentistry must be what it feels like to be God.</p>
<p>Whatever you guys do, don't revive this thread in 3 years and make it a what are my chances =). I don't wanna see any Grad School Confidential here.</p>
<p>im thinking of law school, but i hope i can put off worrying about it till at least sophomore year</p>
<p>What are my s Timmy's chances at harvard graduate school???</p>
<p>He is a straight "excellent" student with only a few "goods" (they were "good" pluses, mind you) He passed the dummy test, and has a kindergarden G.E.D. (IS THAT OK???). His extra-c's include napping (25 hours a week, 52 weeks a year) and coloring.</p>
<p>BTW is a world-class colorer. I saw a triceratops that he drew- it blew my mind. I ****ed my pants right then and there.</p>
<p>He's a shoo-in, right????</p>
<p>I didn't want to do this, but ...WAMC?</p>
<p>Harvard College, Summa Cum Laude -- 4.0 GPA
Phi Beta Kappa
Varsity Swimming Division I
Rhodes Scholar
Cured Cancer</p>
<p>BUT! OMG OMG! My LSAT scores are so low-- 172!! Do I still have a shot?</p>
<p>No hooks or URM. =(</p>
<p>I'm ready for college... Call me naive and arrogant if you will... No class is too hard if you put the time into it... it's just the kids who don't want to put the work in who are weeded out... oh and the kids who just can't hack it mentally... but a 33 on my ACT negates me from that group... once again it's an arrogant assesment... but a true one... and personally I dont want to explore the limits of my mind and the world around me if it means I have to take some extra years to do a post bach after college (that is a waste of youur 4 years)... </p>
<p>I guess it really just comes down to opinion... as I head into my last semester of high school I'm the type of person that looks at my sophmore and freshmen year grades and wishes I would of told all those stupid broads I was dating at the time to buzz off so that I could've studied night and day to get that elusive 4.0+ GPA.... All the fun had in these years can be had later in life too... And if you want to go far in life sometimes sacrafices are necessary... sometimes people get their without sacraficing... but that is mostly the exception not the rule... </p>
<p>flame away...</p>
<p>
[quote]
I know medical school would be justifiable, but just wondering if it would work the same for grad.
[/quote]
NO, NO, NO! It definitely does NOT work the same way. </p>
<p>Choosing a grad school, or rather a grad program, is not at all the same as choosing an undergraduate college, medical school, or law school. Graduate school is the time to specialize, something you're almost definitely not ready for. Choosing a grad school because it has a "good biology program" is not acceptable at the grad school level. What do you want to do within biology? Maybe you want to study benthic microorgranisms, paleobiology, invertebrate zoology, or biotechnology. Even programs like English have subfields. Maybe you want to study 19th century British lit, Romanticism, or medieval lit. Although you may know exactly what you want to major in, I highly doubt you know what area you'll specialize in, which plays an enormous role in selecting a grad school.</p>